Sunday, January 01, 2006

Science Trumps Lore In Secrets

Nautical researcher David Bright, whose efforts to find an infamous missing plane in the Bermuda Triangle are chronicled in the upcoming SCI FI Channel investigative news special The Bermuda Triangle: Startling New Secrets, told SCI FI Wire that he did not go into the project with any preconceived notions about what he would or would not find. "Absolutely not," Bright said in an interview. "I think the beauty of what we were doing is because we all had varying backgrounds on the project. They all came into play. What we did is before we even went out we did a bit of what we call 'What if?' scenarios. So in order to get to that point, what we really needed to do was to essentially do an awful lot of research."

The special documents Bright's expedition—which included a team of more than 20 scientists and technological experts—as they searched for the truth behind the Bermuda Triangle's most famous incidents. In 1945, a squadron of bombers called Flight 19 was lost during a training mission off the coast of Florida. The rescue plane sent to find them a few hours later also disappeared. None of the planes has ever been found.

Based on all the scientific data currently available, Bright and his team used a methodical approach to finding the missing search plane. "We built in a scenario, or a search pattern, that was predicated on currents and tides and weather and taking also into account the fact that there could be certain scenarios where the ship exploded in midair and pieces would come down," Bright said. "Or the ship exploded as it hit the water after it came down. Or the fact that it may have hit the water and parts of it could have essentially blown up, but yet the remainder part of it could have gone on a little further with the tides. ... We came up with all these different scenarios and then developed search pattens based upon all of the different scenarios."

Bright would not reveal what his team uncovered during their seven days at sea, but he did say that he came away from the project satisfied. "What we were doing scientifically, especially with the game plan, was very strategically aligned with what we expected to see," he said. "And it actually worked out quite well for us. So, although I can't tell you what we found, I can tell you we were very excited about the science that we did out there, and that none of us would have done anything differently."